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Zelensky: Ukrainian forces are advancing in the south

2023-07-10 08:18:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Counterattack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Zaporizhzhia, July 2023.

On Sunday, Ukrainian forces continued their efforts to retake regions in the country's southeast that are currently under Russian control, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video broadcast.

According to reports from Russian sources, intense fighting took place in areas around the city of Bahmut, which was captured by the Russian Wagner mercenary forces in May, after months of fighting in the city.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov announced the deployment of one of his units in this region.

Armed with advanced weaponry from the West, during more than 500 days of conflict, Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive against the Russian army. Their initial efforts are focused on retaking a group of villages in the southwest, while at the same time trying to regain control over the regions surrounding the city of Bahmut.

Hanna Maliar, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, relayed via Telegram that intense fighting was unfolding in two southeastern areas.

"We are consolidating our wins in those areas," she wrote.

According to her statement, Russian troops are round-the-clock defending Bahmut, and said that Ukrainian forces had made some advances in the southern flank of the city.

There were no noticeable changes in positions north of Bahmut, and Ukrainian forces engaged in heavy fighting west of Bahmut and near Liman, which is further north in the Donetsk region.

In an interview with the US television network ABC ahead of the NATO summit in Lithuania, President Zelensky expressed his hopes regarding Ukraine's future membership in the Western defense alliance.

Zelensky, during an interview with the US television network ABC, ahead of this week's NATO summit in Lithuania, where Kiev hopes to get strong indications of both future membership in the Western defense alliance and guarantees for its security. , admitted that advances were slower than he and his generals wanted, but said Ukrainian forces were making progress.

"All of us want to make [the counter-offensive] faster because every day means new losses of Ukrainians. We are making progress. We are not stuck," he said, noting that the army had overcome a "kind of stagnation" in the months previous.

"We would all like to see the counterattack take place in a shorter period of time. Today, the initiative is on our side," he said.

A lot of attention in recent days has been focused on the village of Klish?ivka, located south of Bahmut.

Chechen leader Kadyrov, writing in Telegram, said that his unit "Akhmat" was fighting on the side of Russia in the city of Bakhmut. He posted a video of a commander on top of an armored vehicle near the village of Klishchivka.

Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had repulsed Ukrainian advances near Bakhmut, with the fighting difficult "not only by the daily intensity of the battles, but also by the geographical extent".

Ukrainian military analyst Denys Popovych said that Ukrainian forces had taken "important positions near Klishchivka"./ Rel